Jasta 18
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Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 18 was a "hunting squadron" (fighter squadron) of the ''
Luftstreitkräfte The ''Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte'' (, German Air Force)—known before October 1916 as (Flyer Troops)—was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-language sources it is usually referred to as the Imperial German Air Service, alt ...
'', the air arm of the
Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...
during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.


History

The Jasta was formed on 30 October 1916, at
Halluin Halluin (; nl, Halewijn) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Geography It is located at the north of the Métropole Européenne de Lille, on the Belgian border, contiguous with the Belgian town of Menen. Population Trans ...
under 4th Armee auspices; Oberleutnant Karl von Grieffenhagen transferred in from
Jasta 1 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 1 (commonly abbreviated as Jasta 1) was a fighter squadron of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. Jasta 1 was founded on 22 August 1916, using single seat fighters drawn ...
to take command. It deactivated at war's end, having existed some 25 months.


Personnel

Jasta 18's '' Staffelfuhrer'' (also ''Jastaführer'', Commanding officers) were: # Oberleutnant Karl von Grieffenhagen: 30 October 1916 – 12 August 1917 # Oberleutnant
Rudolf Berthold Oskar Gustav Rudolf Berthold (24 March 1891 – 15 March 1920) was a German flying ace of World War I. Between 1916 and 1918, he shot down 44 enemy planes—16 of them while flying one-handed. Berthold's perseverance, bravery, and willingness t ...
: 12 August 1917 – 10 October 1917 # Oberleutnant Ernst Turck: 10 October 1917 – March 1918 # Leutnant der Reserve August Raben: 14 March 1918 – November 1918 A dozen
flying aces A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...
served within its ranks, including Berthold, Hans Müller, Walter von Bülow-Bothkamp,
Wilhelm Kühne Wilhelm Friedrich Kühne (28 March 183710 June 1900) was a German physiologist. Born in Hamburg, he is best known today for coining the word enzyme in 1878. Biography Kühne was born at Hamburg on 28 March 1837. After attending the gymnasium ...
, Paul Strähle,
Harald Auffarth Eduard Florus Harald Auffarth (also Auffahrt) (~1896 – 12 October 1946) Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross, Silver Wound Badge, Hanseatic Cross, was a World War I German fighter ace credited with 29 victories. After the war, he ...
, Joseph Veltjens, and
Johannes Klein Leutnant Johannes Klein (died 1926) was a German World War I flying ace credited with 16 confirmed and two unconfirmed aerial victories.The Aerodrome website page on KleiRetrieved 11 January 2010. He should not be confused with another Johannes Kle ...
. After Raben took command, aces such as
Wilhelm Kühne Wilhelm Friedrich Kühne (28 March 183710 June 1900) was a German physiologist. Born in Hamburg, he is best known today for coining the word enzyme in 1878. Biography Kühne was born at Hamburg on 28 March 1837. After attending the gymnasium ...
and Kurt Adolf Monnington served with the unit, with Hans Müller among those who moved from Jasta 15 along with Raben. During the course of the war, the Jasta suffered eight killed in action, eleven wounded, and one taken prisoner.


Aircraft and operations

Its initial operational aircraft was the
Albatros D.III The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service ('' Luftstreitkräfte'') during World War I. A modified licence model was built by Oeffag for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service ( ''Luftfahrtruppen''). ...
fighter and sometime later, the
Fokker Dr.I The Fokker Dr.I (''Dreidecker'', "triplane" in German), often known simply as the Fokker Triplane, was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became famous as the ...
triplane. Its theater of operations was the Western Front. The new unit mobilized on 8 January 1917. Fifteen days later, it was credited with the first of its 112 confirmed victories during the war. It moved to Marckebeke and Harlebeke airfields. On 23 November 1917, it moved to
Avelin Avelin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is south of the centre of Lille. The village's name is of Germanic origin. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of th ...
to work for the 6th Army. In the spring of 1918, Berthold was promoted to command the Prussian
Jagdgeschwader II ''Jagdgeschwader II (Fighter Wing II, or JG II)'' was the Imperial German Air Service's second fighter wing. Established because of the great success of Manfred von Richthofen's preceding ''Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War I), Jagdgeschwader I'' wing, ...
wing, consisting of the Prussian ''Jagdstaffeln'' 12, 13, 15 and 19. Berthold wanted to take his old squadron with him and make it part of the wing, but this was disallowed. On 19 March 1918, he engineered a wholesale swap of pilots between Jasta 18 and Jasta 15 as a means of taking the pilots he knew with him. The exchange took place at
Guise Guise (; nl, Wieze) is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The city was the birthplace of the noble family of Guise, Dukes of Guise, who later became Princes of Joinville. Population Sights The remains ...
, in the 18th Armee area of operations. About this time, ''
Leutnant () is the lowest Junior officer rank in the armed forces the German (language), German-speaking of Germany (Bundeswehr), Austrian Armed Forces, and military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") fro ...
der Reserve'' August Raben transferred in from
Jasta 15 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 15, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 15, was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The unit would score over 150 aerial victo ...
to take command on 14 March 1918. On 8 April 1918, he led the reconstituted squadron back to Avelines Airfield; they would henceforth refer to themselves as the "Staffel Raben", and changed to a new color scheme from the change in command, abandoning the red/blue fuselages of the formerly Berthold-led unit. The new color scheme adopted by the squadron, already equipped with the
Albatros D.V The Albatros D.V is a fighter aircraft built by the Albatros Flugzeugwerke and used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family and the last Albatro ...
a and even a few Pfalz D.IIIas and applied to those veteran fighter designs, also appeared on the
Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qu ...
s in its service, as the new Fokker fighter rapidly began to replace the earlier aircraft. The new unit livery for Raben's Jasta 18 began to appear by the end of April 1918, and consisted of a white rear fuselage and all-white tail surfaces, with
vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since ancient history, antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its correspondi ...
red forward of the cockpit and on the wings' upper surfaces, and usually left the bare wing panels' undersides unpainted, showing their printed
lozenge camouflage Lozenge camouflage was a military camouflage scheme in the form of patterned cloth or painted designs used by some aircraft of the Central Powers in the last two years of , primarily those of the Imperial German ''Luftstreitkräfte''. It takes ...
. The squadron's main unit insignia consisted of a
stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...
ed black raven, similar in appearance to what Raben himself had used on his own fighter aircraft while previously serving with Jagdstaffel 39, on just about all of the squadron's aircraft fuselage sides on the white rear area, with varying personal insignia added in black, usually along with the raven. The only Jasta 18 aircraft ever to feature a white raven instead were August Raben's own Fokker D.VII, and a later
Fokker Dr.I The Fokker Dr.I (''Dreidecker'', "triplane" in German), often known simply as the Fokker Triplane, was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became famous as the ...
he personally used, with the red area on the fuselages of both aircraft extended rearwards to end much closer to the stabilizer's leading edge. The unit would move on to assignments at Faches-Thumesnil and
Lomme Lomme (; nl, Olm) was a commune in the Nord ''département'' of northern France. It was absorbed as a '' commune associée'' by the city of Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in ...
in the 6th Army zone of operations. On 14 June, it moved to support of 19th Armee, it moved to Montingen, near
Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
for the remainder of the war, in opposing the efforts of the British
Independent Air Force The Independent Air Force (IAF), also known as the Independent Force or the Independent Bombing Force and later known as the Inter-Allied Independent Air Force, was a First World War strategic bombing force which was part of Britain's Royal Air ...
in the 19th Armee's sector, with Jasta 18 being by far the most experienced fighter squadron in the area. Jasta 18's efforts in resisting the British IAF bomber forces were achieved alongside Jagdstaffel 80 sharing Jasta 18's area of operations; with Jagdstaffel 70 and the Bavarian Jagdstaffel 78 immediately south, and the Württemberg Jagdstaffel 64 and
Jagdstaffel 65 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 65, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 65, was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The squadron would score 34 aerial victories ...
immediately north. A few ''KEST (Kampfeinsitzer Staffel)''-designation units also existed in the 19th Armee area, as home defense fighter units. While still based at Lomme, the ''Staffel Raben'' would also see action for the first time against American pilots of the USAAS starting in the second half of May 1918, specifically the American "inheritor unit" of the French ''
Lafayette Escadrille The La Fayette Escadrille (french: Escadrille de La Fayette) was the name of the French Air Force unit escadrille N 124 during the First World War (1914–1918). This escadrille of the ''Aéronautique Militaire'' was composed largely of Ameri ...
'' of largely American personnel, the
103d Aero Squadron The 103rd Aero Squadron was an aviation pursuit squadron of the U.S. Air Service that served in combat in France during World War I. Its original complement included pilots from the disbanded Lafayette Escadrille and Lafayette Flying Corps. One ...
. By early autumn 1918, after the final move to Montingen, the aerial actions undertaken between the USAAS and the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' over the
Battle of Saint-Mihiel The Battle of Saint-Mihiel was a major World War I battle fought from 12–15 September 1918, involving the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and 110,000 French troops under the command of General John J. Pershing of the United States against ...
pitted Jasta 18 against the macabre-marked USAAS' 13th Aero Squadron and their ''Grim Oscar''-bearing
SPAD XIII The SPAD S.XIII is a French biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War, developed by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) from the earlier and highly successful SPAD S.VII. During early 1917, the French designer Louis Béc ...
fighters, with the two units tangling a number of times from the St. Mihiel offensive onwards to the Armistice.


References

;Bibliography * * {{Jastas 18 Military units and formations established in 1916 1916 establishments in Germany Military units and formations disestablished in 1918